Keegan Thompson is back in the Cubs’ bullpen mix. 

The Cubs recalled the righty reliever Saturday morning and placed Jordan Wicks on the 15-day IL with a right oblique strain. Wicks suffered the injury after just 1.2 innings during his start on Friday. The injury comes two outings after spending 40 days on the injured list. 

“It’s extremely frustrating,” Wicks said on Friday afternoon. “Especially just coming back from the IL and feeling like I was in an outstanding spot physically. To have something like this happen, it’s definitely frustrating but there’s not a whole lot we can do about it right now.”

Wicks had taken the spot of Ben Brown, who landed on the IL with a stress reaction in his neck. With Wicks shelved, manager Craig Counsell alluded to Kyle Hendricks being the pitcher who takes the spot in the rotation. 

Hendricks had his best outing of the season in relief of Wicks. The veteran tossed 4.1 shutout innings, retiring the first 11 batters he faced and allowing just 2 hits. He struggled mightily to open the year, being taken out of the rotation and moved to the bullpen for the first time in his long career. Now, the 34-year-old will have a chance to re-establish him in the rotation. 

“In a lot of ways, Kyle continues to impress you,” Counsell said on Friday. “Even though he’s had a tough go of it so far. He’s worried about things that he can control. And that’s to be ready when his name is called and to not make it any more complicated than that. Easier said than done, with what Kyle has accomplished and what he has meant here.

“But I think an outing like [Friday’s] is proof that that’s how Kyle conducts himself and goes about his day is to be ready for the next opportunity, no matter what is going on or no matter what’s happened in the past. And I thought today was great example of it.”

Thompson, 29, has struggled to establish himself as a consistent relief option for the Cubs. The righty has been up and down between the majors and Triple-A the last two years. He posted a 4.71 ERA in 19 games last year with the Cubs and sports a 4.97 ERA in 9 games this year. That comes after posting a sub-4 ERA in each of his first two major league seasons. 

The righty has struggled performing on short rest — he has a 9.22 ERA in 11 games on 1-day rest and a 6.57 ERA in 10 games on 2-days rest. That can hurt a bullpen — if he’s not effective and is down for multiple days, the team is playing down a reliever. 

But when he’s effective, he can be a strong weapon for a bullpen. His ability to pitch multiple innings can provide rest to other relievers and reset the bullpen. In his last two outings with Iowa, Thompson pitched 3.2 innings, allowing just a hit with 7 strikeouts — both outings coming on 3 or more days of rest.